Chapter 81

"Leandros."

"Speak, Your Grace."

"If it were the Hartmann of old, Sir Müller wouldn't have treated us this well, would he?"

"Your Grace is no different now than in the past."

"That's not what I meant."

Müller had done his job even better than he had expected.

After getting warmed up by the fires in the empty castle, he left like a recharged Sleipnir.

As instructed, he had also stopped by the Hartmann ducal residence, where he appeared to have met with Arndt and Russel, who were waiting there.

When he first sent Russel away on Sleigh, he had given him specific instructions.

-The first goal is to have people sent from the royal palace arrive in the north. Take Arndt with you. And tell them everything that has happened so far. Every detail, without missing anything. Make sure to stop by a temple before going to the royal palace.

-Should I deliver this news to the temple as well?

-No. But it's important to show that you've visited.

-What then?

-When you come out of the royal palace, tell Arndt to go to the ducal residence and prepare to receive guests. You should separately recruit mercenaries in advance and have them wait. Then go to the temple and...

Yurik had a tendency to be obsessed with appearances.

So to make him make a decision as a "Crown Prince" this time, a third party—in other words, someone who had no relationship with either Yurik or himself—was important.

It was a device to make things look official by deliberately inserting a foreign element.

And fortunately, Philip Müller, who played the role of the third party, was the type who worshipped power.

Everyone would rather possess a blazing torch than the sun that's out of reach.

And as a result,

In his hand was an appointment letter signed by Crown Prince Yurik himself.

[In consideration of the gravity of the situation, authority to move private soldiers to the northern self-governing territory is temporarily transferred to Duke Hartmann.]

Although it was specified as temporary, there was no clearly designated term.

In other words, it meant to go and play around until he was graciously allowed to return.

Of course, he had no intention of doing that.

After designating the ducal residence as an intermediate supply base, Müller began to fulfill his role diligently.

He volunteered to be a messenger, traveling between the capital, the ducal residence, and the north.

Not just a messenger. He also transported goods and food delivered from the ducal residence.

Of course, Leandros still had to go out to the north to meet them just in case, but Philip's existence was indeed a great help.

As he was fidgeting with the appointment letter, Philip approached silently, rubbing his hands together, and said.

"When I stopped by the ducal residence this time, I confirmed that mercenaries were already prepared. They should have departed by now."

"I should send Leandros to the border in a few days. Your merit is great."

"Not at all. I'm just following Your Grace's words. What I've done is merely ensuring that it can be realized quickly."

And only now did he realize it again.

Philip Müller's diplomatic skills were remarkable.

It wasn't easy to speak so soothingly, bending just enough not to be offensive.

Of course, Leandros was glaring at Philip, but still.

"Then I'll be staying here for the time being. Sir Leandros, please welcome the mercenaries. Sir Philip, you must be tired, so rest in another room."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Yes."

Müller left the bedroom first.

Leandros, about to follow, stopped.

"Your Grace."

"What?"

"What do you do during the time I'm not here?"

"I lie down. I'm a patient, aren't I?"

"......"

Leandros left the room without answering.

He obediently lay down again and slept like the dead.

Not long after, the mercenary band entered the north.

Since the north was so little known, besides those who had accepted the mercenary commission, there were also explorers and cartographers mixed in.

His body was able to receive treatment from a pharmacist with a mercenary background, who frowned as soon as he saw the wounds.

"If it had been just a bit warmer here, all the injured parts would have rotted. You should be thankful it's cold."

"No, it's not good to disparage the emergency treatment my knight provided."

"Do I need to remind you anew that emergency treatment is only for emergencies? It's a miracle that the broken bones have started to heal in place."

Instead of bandages soaked in blood and pus, white, clean bandages and foul-smelling ointment were applied.

The pharmacist warned as he dropped an unknown liquid onto the wound.

"I heard you've been chewing dried poppy leaves."

"My knight gave them to me."

"While they do have a painkilling effect, in a case like yours, it would be better to use folk remedies with less addictive properties. I'll give you a separate medicine."

After helping Amelia escape from addiction, was he now inheriting that karma?

Once the treatment was roughly finished, next came the affairs of the north.

"First, we've made it possible to travel freely to the north, but the paths we can use are still limited."

"That's right. And if monsters appear again, a procession without an escort will suffer great damage. Even I would have been in serious trouble if Your Grace hadn't ordered an escort knight to accompany me."

"But it's impossible to eliminate all those monsters right now."

"Why is that? Didn't you defeat the monster in this castle? Wouldn't other monsters be easy for you?"

While Philip was rattling on, Leandros brought the book about those folk tales.

Originally, a total of five entities had descended upon the north.

But not all of them were at the same level as the 'Winter Butterfly'.

Thinking about it now, the scene of the Margrave transforming into the Winter Butterfly was a bit strange.

Aphoom-Zhah, the Lord of the Extreme Realm, who was summoned along with the Winter Butterfly, did not originate from humans.

The Lord of the Extreme Realm was a truly divine entity.

So the Winter Butterfly might have been a much weaker entity than the Lord of the Extreme Realm.

Of course, they were similar in that seeing them would drive one mad.

Looking at it that way, there might be more entities in the north that originated from humans besides divine entities.

Such entities might have some possibility of being defeated.

Should he try it?

The moment that thought occurred to him, he dismissed it.

Monsters that didn't appear in the original work meant he didn't know the method to defeat them.

Leandros being able to kill the Winter Butterfly was truly a stroke of heaven-sent luck.

Besides, the priority now was to deal with the various small monsters rather than such entities.

While divine entities might be difficult to encounter, small monsters were frequently met wherever one went.

What would be the best approach?

It didn't take much time to reach an answer.

He dismissed Philip and had Leandros come closer.

"You know how many things are in the north, right? The bizarre birds we met, the burning people, those beast-like creatures that Amelia dealt with."

"I know."

"It would take a lot of time to eliminate them all. But you are a valuable force for Hartmann. You're also one of only two escort knights."

"Yes."

"I don't like you suffering needlessly either. I don't particularly like sending you into danger."

"Yes."

"But you understand that I can't give up, with so much at stake in the north, from mithril ore to matters concerning Crown Prince Yurik?"

"Yes."

Leandros bowed his head.

It seemed like he would quietly nod even if ordered to go kill the gods right now.

But he had no intention of asking him to do such a thing.

Instead.

"Come with me."

A body already damaged beyond repair, might as well be recycled.

Leandros raised his head at his words.

Two months later.

Two regions on the border, including the central part of the five regions of the north, had been liberated.

And he,

Had faced death a total of 17 times to discover methods to tackle the minor monsters lurking in the north.

* * *

There was a rare phenomenon of scarcity of mercenaries and adventurers in the capital.

There was only one reason.

The Hartmann ducal family.

The ducal family had hired a large number of mercenary bands, and the commission locations were all in the north.

While people were murmuring about the relationship between the ducal family and the north.

A rumor secretly flowed from somewhere.

'The Hartmann ducal family has been transferred authority over the northern self-governing territory.'

No one could verify the truth of this.

But those who frequented the royal palace had witnessed the servant of Duke Hartmann and his escort knight having an audience with Crown Prince Yurik.

The rumor, fed by eyewitness accounts, spread rapidly.

"...So I was wondering where such rumors came from, but it seemed like it was all considered by Your Grace, so I didn't bother to clarify. I'm quite perceptive, you know."

"What on earth does a ducal servant do to acquire such perception?"

"Just say the word, and I can spend all night explaining how I acquired it."

Two months of holding out in the north with the vanguard of the mercenary band, using the Margrave's castle as a base camp.

That period was sufficient time to create minimal paths to the north while also drawing detailed maps of some regions of the north.

With maps available and fewer strange monsters or demonic beasts in sight.

As soon as the dispatch of workers and the movement of supplies became somewhat smooth, he decided to move the mithril ore from the Margrave's castle.

No one else was using it, so he might as well.

Thus, the mithril ore was successfully secured.

They were finally able to start on Baron Arnold's order, but.

"Are you really sure you don't want to talk about what happened with Sir Leandros in the north?"

"Nothing special happened."

"But for that to be the case, Sir Leandros's face is too grim."

"It's just hysteria."

Since returning to the ducal residence from the north, Leandros had not shown his face in front of him.

He hadn't abandoned his duty as an escort knight.

When he was in the office, a silent presence could be felt outside the door.

But he hadn't seen his face.

Though he could fully understand the reason.

He couldn't talk about it here and now.

Reassuring Arndt, whose face was half-gone with worry, he changed the subject.

"Sir Russel is gone, and so is Miss Amelia. Everyone is away."

"Come to think of it, do you know where Miss Amelia is? I have many tasks to assign."

"I sent her somewhere for a while. Do you miss her?"

"No, why would I?"

Arndt answered promptly while handing over a pile of tasks for him to handle.

"Everyone is scattered. It feels strange because it's quiet. But I suppose this is good in its own way."

"Why?"

"Does it remind you of the old days?"

...Was he talking about those times when they only ate weeds?

Should he be glad that those times remained as memories?

As he looked at Arndt with a sour expression, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

"Your Grace, a letter has arrived."

A slender servant entered and handed over a small piece of paper.

Written on it was just one sentence.

But as soon as he read it, his mouth tightened involuntarily.

After dismissing the servant, Arndt asked.

"May I ask what the content is? Is it good news, Your Grace?"

"It's nothing special."

As he rose from his seat, Arndt wrapped an indoor cloak around him.

"It says a distinguished guest is coming."

"By guest, you mean..."

"It's probably the person you're imagining."

[They say that person is moving from the royal palace.]

The piece of paper crumpled in his hand.

Yurik was leaving the royal palace and coming there.